


I Need You So Much Closer

by OceannanotOceania



Series: Beacon Ball Trilogy [1]
Category: RWBY
Genre: F/F, M/M, literally this story is just hardcore unrequited love, pining!Neptune whoo
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-09
Updated: 2014-09-09
Packaged: 2018-02-16 17:13:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,107
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2278011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/OceannanotOceania/pseuds/OceannanotOceania
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>In which Neptune is reminded that you can't always get what you want in life.</p>
            </blockquote>





	I Need You So Much Closer

**Author's Note:**

> So this was just something I had thought of writing after the most recent episode of RWBY aired, and, well, it took longer than it should have to write this oop. Anyways, hope you enjoy!

“Neptune!”

The man turned towards the voice, looking over to see Weiss running up to him.

“Uh, hey Weiss.” Neptune rubbed at the back of his head, feeling slightly embarrassed to be caught wandering around.

“I know it’s a bit unorthodox but, would you accompany me to the dance tonight?” The hope in Weiss’ eyes was all too apparent.

“I uh,” Neptune rubbed at the back of his head. “I’ve, got someone I’m going with already.”

“Oh.” Weiss’ face fell. “I’m sorry to have been so forward, then.”

“It’s fine.” Neptune paused. “I’ll, I’ll see you at the dance tonight?”

Weiss slowly nodded. “Yes, I’ll see you there.” She let out a small sigh before walking away.

The hand at the back of Neptune’s head fell. Neptune clenched and unclenched his fist.

Having a date at the dance was a lie, for the most part. Desperately wanting one was a more accurate statement.

~

“Neptune, you wanna help me here?” Sun yelled across the room.

Neptune slowly rolled his eyes, putting in a few more globs of gel in his hair before going over to Sun. Neptune bit back a laugh at the sight of Sun desperately fumbling with the tie around his neck, hoping to tie the thing but instead doing anything but that.

“Geez man, any reason you can’t ask Sage or Scarlet?”

Sun rolled his eyes. “I can’t find them anywhere.”

Neptune let out a small snicker as he gestured for Sun to move his hands. Sun let down his hands, furrowing his brow in response to Neptune’s snickering.

“Wow, you’ve made a complete mess out of this, haven’t you?”

Sun groaned. “Remember the whole raised in Vacuo thing? I’m not exactly used to stuff like this.”

Neptune chuckled. “True.”

It took a few more seconds, but Neptune had finally untangled the mess that could hardly be considered a tie around Sun’s neck.

The pair fell silent as Neptune started meticulously tying Sun’s tie. Neptune’s hands shook slightly as he noticed the warmth that radiated from the Faunus in front of him, and as he became aware of how his breathing had synced with Sun’s own. Neptune tried to will away the flush that he could feel growing on his face.

Neptune couldn’t help feeling relieved when he finished tying Sun’s tie, and slowly backed away from the Faunus.

Sun glanced down at Neptune’s work. “Thanks man.”

Not even two seconds afterwards, Sun began fumbling with the tie.

“No, dude, don’t mess up my hard work so soon.”

Sun’s hands fell away from the tie, and his tail started to move stiffly. “Ye-yeah. Sorry.”

Neptune rolled his eyes. “You’re going to meet up with Blake soon, right?”

Sun began to fidget with his gauntlets, his eyes widening. “Oh, crap.” He glanced around the room, his eyes landing on the clock behind Neptune’s head. “Yeah, I need to go now.”

Sun ran straight for the front door, pulling the door open. He paused, turning back to Neptune. “I’ll see you at the dance, right?”

Neptune rubbed at the back of his head. “Yeah, I’ll, I’ll be there.”

Sun grinned. “Sweet.”

Sun promptly closed the door behind him. Neptune continued to stare at the door, his hand falling from the back of his head.

Neptune let out a breath. He wandered over to the bathroom, adjusting his scarlet tie in front of the mirror.

It was probably a good thing Scarlet wasn’t here; Neptune wasn’t too big on the idea of hearing some spiel from the man about how Neptune should let Sun know how Neptune’s felt about the Faunus for years now.

Neptune slowly shook his head. No. No, there was no way he could tell Sun about crap like that right now. And, if something happens with Sun and Blake, there’ll probably be no time when Neptune can tell Sun about something like that.

~

When Neptune finally got to the dance, he was greeted by the sight of Sun and Blake in the middle of dancing.

“Hey Neptune!”

Neptune shook his head, barely registering the fact that Yang was stood behind a small podium, a smile on her face.

“Oh, hi Yang.”

“Come on in, there’s still plenty of room on the dance floor.” Yang nodded towards the large ballroom, not so subtly looking straight over to Blake as she did so.

Oh.

So he wasn’t the only one here with his sort of problem.

“You not joining them anytime soon?”

“Nope, I’ve gotta stay here to greet any stragglers.” Yang replied. “Besides, I already got to dance with someone who matters.”

Neptune nodded.

Yup. He wasn’t the only one.

“Hope to see you later, then.”

“I make you no guarantees.” Yang flashed a smirk.

Neptune flashed a small smile in response before walking past Yang.

The ballroom was large, that’s for sure. Most of the room was taken up by the dancers in the middle of the floor. To the left of the room was a long table with punch and other kinds of food, while the right of the room was a bunch of white, wooden tables shoved along the wall.

Neptune walked over to one of the unoccupied tables near the middle of the ballroom, leaning on the table as he looked around the ballroom floor, not taking too long for his eyes to land on Sun and Blake.

They looked happy. Really happy. The pair were waltzing around the floor, quietly laughing to themselves. Neptune felt his heart leap every time he could see Sun’s face, and the wide grin that was on it.

Neptune turned back towards the table he was leaning against. He had seen that smile before, especially when the pair of them were younger. Hell, there are plenty of times when Neptune was the reason that sort of smile was on Sun’s face. But, never like that. Nothing like the grin on Sun’s face right now, the one that spoke of slowly blossoming feelings.

Neptune let out a breath. He had always been relatively popular with people, especially girls. He could have been with almost any person he’s met. Instead, he fell for the Faunus that had stumbled into his life when they were both five. The one that, with each passing day, seemed to be more and more unattainable.

Neptune’s thoughts eventually wandered back to the words Scarlet had told him a couple of weeks before their team was chosen to come to Beacon, the things he had told Neptune late one night after Neptune had burst out exactly how he felt for Sun.

_“You can’t let this shit fester, Neptune.” Scarlet says, a serious expression on his face. “You’ve got to tell him.”_

_“What if he doesn’t accept it?” Neptune replies, voice loud despite the fact that Sage and Sun are both asleep. Neptune’s eyes widen, before he lets out a breath. “Wh-what if he decides not to be friends with me anymore because of it?”_

_“He won’t do something like that.” Scarlet says. “You know that he couldn’t do that. He cares about you, Neptune, even if it’s not the same way you care about him.”_

_Neptune nods, looking away from Scarlet._

_Scarlet sighs. “Look man, if you can’t outright say it, you’ve got to do something. Even if you can’t think of the most stupid, stereotypically romantic thing, you’ve got to at least **show** him how you feel about him.”_

_Neptune lets out a breath, remaining silent for the rest of the night._

The hand Neptune had on the table clenched and unclenched. He looked over to Sun and Blake, still immersed in dancing with each other. Even if he can’t say it outright, he’s got to at least do something.

Neptune let out a breath before leaning off the table. It was awkward, but he found a way to weave around the couples on the floor, mumbling a spew of excuse me's and sorry's as he did so, and came to stand in front of Sun and Blake.

Neptune cleared his throat, and Sun and Blake were pulled out of their daze. Sun looked over to Neptune, the confusion on Sun’s face soon clearing.

“Neptune!” Sun exclaimed. “Dude, I didn’t think you were gonna make it.”

Neptune let out a nervous laugh. “Yeah I, I ran into Scarlet and was trying to drag him over here.” He glanced around the ballroom. “I’m not too sure where he went now, though.”

Neptune didn’t know where Scarlet was. Neptune seldom knew where Scarlet was if he wasn’t with him and Sun.

Neptune bit his lip. He was doing this.

“So Blake, how would you feel if I stole your dance partner for a bit?” Neptune couldn’t help wanting to cringe at how awkward his words were.

Blake blinked a couple of times, briefly glancing over to Sun. “Oh, yeah, that’s fine.”

Sun and Blake turned to face each other, both bowing to each other before Blake backed away. Neptune flashed a small smile as Blake gave a small wave before walking over to the tables, near where Neptune saw Ruby standing.

Neptune rubbed at the back of his neck as Sun stood in front of him, arms held out.

“So, how are we doing this?” Sun asked.

“Uh,” Neptune walked up to Sun, placing one of Sun’s hands on the left side of his waist. “I guess like this.”

Neptune placed his left hand on Sun’s shoulder, and hesitantly grabbed hold of Sun’s free hand. A new song started to play, and the pair slowly started to move their feet, trying to sync up their own rhythm with the tempo of the song.

It didn’t take long for the pair to get a feel for the music, and soon after Neptune relaxed, his attention going away from focusing on how sweaty the hand he had intertwined with Sun’s was.

“I think we’re the only dudes dancing together here.” Sun said, breaking the strangely comfortable silence that had formed between them.

“Nah, I saw some guys dancing together near the back of the dancefloor.”

Sun snickered.

Neptune adjusted the hand that was holding Sun’s own, Sun’s fingers parting without much thought so that Neptune could intertwine his fingers with Sun’s.

Neptune refused to acknowledge that he thought this was a great achievement.

It didn’t take long for that same, comfortable silence to fall over Sun and Neptune, a silence that pulled Neptune’s attention away from the idle chatter of other people in the ballroom.

Neptune looked away from the sea of people he’d been looking at on the dance floor, glancing down at Sun. Neptune gulped. Sun was looking up at Neptune, a small smile on his face, something like affection in his eyes.

Neptune stiffened.

It’s not the same is it? It’s not how Neptune felt about Sun, is it?

Neptune bit at his lip, feeling the question on the tip of his tongue.

“Sun-”

He heard the sound of someone clearing their throat. Neptune bit at his lip again, turning to the source of the noise. Blake was stood a few feet away from Sun.

“Mind if I cut in?” Blake asked.

Neptune blinked, his grip on Sun’s hand loosening. “Er, yeah.”

Neptune turned back to Sun, the both of them parting hands, and bowing to each other. Neptune looked over to Blake, his eyes briefly widening. Blake had a strange look on her face, something between merely observing and knowing exactly what’s going on in Neptune’s mind.

He shook his head. “I’ll see you guys later then?”

“You’re not leaving are you?” Sun asked.

“I’ll probably stay,” Neptune replied. “I might just wander around here for a bit.”

The strange look on Blake’s face disappeared. “Goodbye, then.”

Neptune flashed a half-hearted smile before he walked away from Sun and Blake. He pushed back the couples on the dance floor, the sorry’s and excuse me’s he uttered as he passed more like whispers than actual coherent words.

Neptune leaned back on the table he had been at before, eyes landing on Sun and Blake, who had already begun dancing. The same expression from before was on Sun’s face, and the pair seemed to be laughing about something already. He shook his head, eyes continuing to wander around the dance floor. He soon noticed Weiss on the opposite side of the dance floor, deep in conversation with some man Neptune hadn’t ever seen before. Weiss appeared to laugh, her hand reaching up to cover the smile that spread across her face.

Neptune half-heartedly smiled. Glad that she found someone in the end.

Neptune let out a breath.

He’d never have such luck, would he?

 

**Author's Note:**

> In case you didn't know, I have a [Tumblr.](oceannanotoceania.tumblr.com) I post writing there sometimes, so go check it out, and feel free to throw a few prompts my way!


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